Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Cyber Security and Defence) Share this | Hansard source

It's a great pleasure to be speaking to the Enhancing Online Safety (Non-consensual Sharing of Intimate Images) Bill 2018 today. All I can say to those opposite is: about time. Labor first put forward its private members' bill on the issue of non-consensual sharing of intimate images or revenge porn in 2015. It's now 2018. It's now three years later, and we're still discussing the form that this legislation should take.

Technology is advancing at lightning speed. As the shadow assistant minister for cybersecurity, I know that regulators and public policymakers throughout the world are grappling with how to keep up with this ever-changing technology environment, which is changing on a daily basis in some sections. Who would have thought, even five years ago, we would have fridges or televisions or dolls that spy on us? It is a challenge for the regulators and it is a challenge for public policymakers to keep up with technology that is advancing so very quickly and with the risks and threats that come as a result of these technological changes. There are, as well, the many advances in technology that are used for good, that create a more engaged society, a more convenient and functioning society, a more connected society and a more equal society. There is a huge opportunity to use technology as a platform for good and there is a huge opportunity to use technology as a platform for the worst. As representatives of our community, we have an obligation to change our laws as technology changes, and this bill represents that.

Non-consensual sharing of intimate images refers to the sharing or distribution of an image or video of someone portrayed in a sexual or intimate manner which has been shared online without consent. This includes social media and websites. This parliament needs to send a very clear message, a very strong message, to our communities that this is not acceptable. Labor know this, and we are committed to it. That's why we supported the Enhancing Online Safety (Non-consensual Sharing of Intimate Images) Bill 2017, which introduced a civil penalty regime to combat the non-consensual sharing of intimate images. This bill provides victims of image based abuse with a single entry point to assist in providing redress, whether it's in the form of advice, information, the taking down of imagery or the protection of a person's privacy and reputation. It sets up a statutory regime to be administered by the eSafety Commissioner, including graduated responses from issuing removal notices to the issuing of a remedial notice or direction to ensure a person doesn't contravene the prohibition—a form of deterrence notice, if you like.

Since 2015, Labor has been calling again and again on the Turnbull government to criminalise image based online abuse. This, we know, sends a strong message to the victims, the perpetrators, the police and the community that revenge porn is a crime. In 2016, we took a promise to the election that within the first 100 days of being elected we would make this happen, because we understood that this was a matter of urgency. We understood the prevalence of this in our community and we understood that dealing with it was urgent, because we knew it was a very strongly held view that was shared by the Australian people. Later in 2016, Labor reintroduced its private members' bill, but it was removed from the Notice Paper because this government refused to call it on for debate for eight consecutive sitting Mondays.

Finally, we were given the opportunity to support this bill in the Senate, and we did so knowing that the civil regime was a step in the right direction. But it did not go far enough in recognising the seriousness of image based abuse. It needed to be criminalised. Less than 24 hours ago, this bill failed to send a message to the community that image based abuse is illegal. For years Labor has been saying there should be a specific criminal offence, and time and time again this government has maintained that existing criminal law is enough and that there is no need for a specific criminal offence. Until yesterday the Turnbull government disagreed with Labor, until yesterday this bill failed to criminalise image based abuse, until yesterday Labor was still calling on the government to get with the times, and until yesterday the Turnbull government continued to waste time insisting to Australians that they didn't need a specific criminal offence for image based abuse.

Today, finally, we're pleased that the Turnbull government have finally backflipped. They have accepted the evidence. They've changed their tune and accepted Labor's advice and Labor's leadership on this for years. The government may have been dragged kicking and screaming, and I'm sure they have been, but we are relieved that they've done this. We are relieved that they have finally come to the table, come to their senses and listened to Labor, to the Labor leadership and to the experts on this.

Experts, research statistics and the community all agree this amendment should have been a no-brainer. Research from the RMIT indicates that one in five Australians has experienced the non-consensual sharing of intimate images. Those who have had their intimate images posted online include one in two Australians with a disability and one in two Indigenous Australians. RMIT has also reported that four out of five Australians agree it should be a crime to share sexual or nude images without permission.

Experts agree that the sharing of intimate images without consent is a serious form of abuse and it can cause significant and ongoing harm. In April 2016, the COAG Advisory Panel on Reducing Violence against Women and their Children released a report recommending:

To clarify the serious and criminal nature of the distribution of intimate material without consent, legislation should be developed that includes strong penalties for adults who do so.

In a submission to the department's consultation on the bill, the Australian Information Commissioner stated:

The non-consensual sharing of these images is a serious invasion of privacy, which has the potential to cause severe harm, distress and humiliation to the victim. Further, the harm that can be caused through the sharing of such images is exacerbated by rapidly increasing technological capacity for capturing images and making recordings, and the ability to distribute digital material on a vast scale.

We've heard through the course of this debate about the increasing technological capacity for capturing images and making those recordings. What can be created—because that's what we're dealing with here in many cases—is just breathtaking and horrific.

This research, combined with a lack of leadership from this government, forced the ACT government to lead by example when it comes to non-consensual sharing of images. Instead of waiting around for this government to stop dragging its feet on revenge porn, the ACT Legislative Assembly criminalised this behaviour in 2017. The ACT understood how important it was to stay up to date with technology, and the Crimes (Revenge Porn) Amendment Bill 2017 proves it. The ACT law states that people who publish or threaten to publish non-consensual intimate images online face up to three years in jail or a $45,000 fine. The penalty increases to five years in jail or a fine of up to $75,000 if the victim is aged under 16. In the first six months of this law, several people were charged or convicted. Some of these were convicted of multiple offences. One perpetrator was charged with at least four offences, including printing over 20 intimate images of his ex-partner and threatening to distribute them. The ACT revenge porn law prevented the reputation, dignity and modesty of this victim being destroyed. These laws matter, and the ACT has shown that. The ACT, by taking leadership on this and following federal Labor leadership on this, has proved that these laws matter and that what we have here is a serious problem.

Unfortunately, those in the other chamber have decided that the ACT, despite its wisdom on this legislation and the fact that we have had a mature and logical debate about many, many issues since self-government, is incapable of having the full equality and the full rights of everyone in a state in Australia. Yesterday, they basically condemned those in the ACT and those in the Northern Territory to second-class citizenship. We do not enjoy full equality here in the ACT or in the Northern Territory. Despite the fact that we make up 700,000 of the people in the nation, we do not enjoy full equality compared to those in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia and compared to the 500,000 people in Tasmania.

In 2018, in this democracy that is Australia, those in the other chamber condemned the people of the ACT and the Northern Territory to inequality, to being second-class citizens in our nation. I am deeply disappointed with what happened in the Senate yesterday, particularly because territory rights were voted down by two votes and particularly when, here in the ACT, we have a mature and logical debate about issues. We take a leadership role on many of these issues. We have taken a leadership public policy role in the context of this debate on revenge porn. I again remind those opposite that, in 2018, in a democracy, in Australia, the people of the ACT and the Northern Territory deserve to be treated as equal citizens to those in the states.

Finally, I just want to add that Labor supports and stands by the victims of non-consensual sharing of intimate images, and, since 2015, we've proven that. We understand that revenge porn is not okay and has the capacity to ruin someone's life. I want to make special mention of the tireless efforts of a range of stakeholders in the community who have worked hard to make significant progress on this issue. I also want to acknowledge my colleagues, the members for Gellibrand and Griffith, for taking a leadership role on this. They have been prosecuting this issue and working diligently and tirelessly on this issue for years. Your work has not gone unnoticed; it has finally been noticed even by the Turnbull government. Labor welcomes the backflip from the government. After years of proving our commitment to this bill, I support the government's amendments, especially as they adopt Labor's clear and longstanding leadership and Labor's clear and longstanding position on this issue.

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